Combining remote sensing techniques and participatory mapping to understand the relations between forest degradation and ecosystems services in a tropical rainforest

Abstract

Forest degradation is an environmental problem that falls in the domains of different disciplines. Therefore, it is necessary to tackle this issue from a multidisciplinary perspective to support the design of appropriate forest monitoring systems and policies. The overall goal of this study was to combine remote sensing (RS) and ecosystem services (ES) data to better understand how the demand for ES is related to forest degradation. The study area was the Sumaco Biosphere Reserve located in central-northern Ecuador. First, participatory mapping (208 respondents) was employed to identify the demand and location for five predefined ES categories in tropical forest. Next, RS data were used to delineate degraded forest areas based on an empirically derived canopy cover value of 30–86%. The results show that the majority of ES locations was situated in areas with a canopy cover higher than 90%, which corresponds to undisturbed forest, while in degraded forest there were fewer ES locations. Considering the land-use pattern in the study area, there is a great danger that the undisturbed forest encountered at the time of the study will be degraded in future if uncontrolled forest use continues. The results of this study will be useful to local authorities for developing specific forest management strategies, and the methodology can support national and subnational forest monitoring systems.